Encrypting Free, Over-The-Air Television Could Undermine Customary Home Recording Rights, Says Home Recording Rights Coalition

19-Mar-01

Encrypting terrestrial broadcast television programming would threaten established home recording rights, the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC) said. The group made its comments in a letter sent to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Michael Powell. The comments came in response to a letter sent to Chairman Powell last week from members of Congress expressing concerns that television programming producers may provide content only to channels with strong copy protections.""If broadly applied,"" wrote HRRC Chairman Gary Shapiro, ""such a doctrine would contravene and nullify public policy as to the reasonable and customary practices of consumers, as formulated by the Congress as recently as 1998."" Shapiro specifically pointed to Section 1202(k) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act in which, he argued, Congress enacted a ""carefully balanced approach"" to analog home recording rights.""This section provides that the mandated technology may not be applied so as to interfere, in any way, with consumer recording of free, over-the-air terrestrial broadcasts,"" wrote Shapiro.Shapiro added that encrypting free, over-the-air television, along with any other proposals that would diminish consumers' fair use rights, would create little incentive for consumers to transition to digital television. ""It also would be a policy change without rationale,"" stated Shapiro. ""Analog copies of broadcasts, allowed by the DMCA, can always be digitized for Internet distribution.""The real target of any new impositions would be consumers themselves, in their customary, private and noncommercial practices.""In the letter, the HRRC outlined three boundaries that should be established as this subject is under consideration:- No consideration should be given to encryption of free, terrestrial television broadcasts.- No imposition, of any nature, should be placed on the ability to record free, terrestrial broadcasts for private, non-commercial purposes in the home.- Any meaningful approach to issues surrounding the redistribution of broadcast programming over the Internet requires legislation to reach all products capable of storing and uploading broadcast signals. Any approach to resolving these issues must recognize and protect customary consumer recording rights within the household.The HRRC letter closed with general concerns about the federal government sanctioning any effort that would constrain free broadcasts.""It would seem inappropriate for the FCC (or the Congress),"" Shapiro wrote, ""to take steps based on an assumption that the motion picture industry would jointly withhold its product from the marketplace.""Established in 1981, the Home Recording Rights Coalition is a coalition representing consumers, retailers, and manufacturers of audio and audio-visual recording products and media, dedicated to keeping these products free of unreasonable, government-imposed charges or restraints on their distribution or operation. For more information, visit www.HRRC.org.

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